Pelagic working voyages interspersed with local patch and occasional twitch birding news

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Early bird

I was on deck at 06:00 this morning with dawn fast approaching. A smallish dark bird made me jump when it exploded out of its' hiding place between packing crates and flew out of sight to the heli-deck. With a racing pulse I quickly got to a better vantage point in the hope of a 'goody', only to find that I had flushed a starling! Not the most attractive of birds at that hour but 'trip tick' No. 8. To be honest after a week at sea only 8 bird species is rather pathetic even by my own standards. Things must improve- surely?

Anyway the sun came up and so did the Cory's again- I counted at least 18 today. Have been checking them closely when feasible- which has not been often, in the off chance that one or more of them are the fabled 'Scopoli'sshearwater', which apparently is thought to be a species in its' own right by some, although often treated as a race of Cory's by most. I just don't think I could separate them in the field if I am totally honest, as the finer points of the I/D criteria would need pretty good views! Anyway, other than that there was little else to blog about other than a handful of LBB & YL gulls. Highlight of the late evening was a distant, juvenile Great skua which appeared to be moulting and looked decidedly manky. Still, it's a decent bird for here it would seem. Still not seen a single cetacean.

About Me

My formative birding years were spent primarily at CVL, Portland, Marazion and PG. I have lived in Mullion, St. Ives, Plymouth, Bristol and Aberdeen. I studied for a first degree in Plymouth and a masters in Aberdeen. Since the late nineties I have worked as a sea-going scientific observer/surveyor specialising in fisheries, seabirds and marine mammals. I've worked in many of the worlds' oceans from South Georgia to Greenland and from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean. In the south Atlantic I monitored albatross mortality within commercial fishing fleets and have also undertaken extensive seabird surveys off Greenland, in UK waters, the Med. and in the central Indian ocean. I am a JNCC ESAS certified seabird surveyor, JNCC certified marine mammal observer, certified CCAMLR scientific observer and a regional tuna fisheries observer.
I'm not a photographer! - just a birder who takes photo's as and when birds present themselves- my camera is often in 'auto' mode!
I enjoy the company and dialogue of birders, naturalists and people who love the sea- many of whom I have been fortunate to meet in the field.